ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 27, 1997 TAG: 9703270052
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The company's confession of a cigarette conspiracy is having a sweeping effect on its larger, richer tobacco competitors.
Jean Connor smoked R.J. Reynolds cigarettes from age 15 to her death from cancer at 49. Fellow Floridian James Clark smoked Liggett cigarettes for 24 years, dying at 51.
In two weeks, Connor's family will ask a Florida court to make RJR pay for her death, the first trial in which Liggett's dramatic confession of a cigarette conspiracy will be used against its larger, richer rivals.
But the Liggett deal that gave lawyers powerful new ammunition against the tobacco industry also means Clark's widow - and thousands of others, willingly or not - gave up any chance at winning their own big verdicts.
``I do feel badly that the people who are injured by Liggett products cannot receive full compensation,'' said Norwood Wilner, attorney for the Clarks and Connors. He helped broker a related settlement to dismiss all private lawsuits against Liggett in return for tiny payments to potentially thousands of people.
Betty Clark agreed to settle, the lawyer says, because ``hopefully, with the cooperation of Liggett, we can bring the rest of the industry to justice.''
RJR says it's not worried about that evidence. But it did seek, unsuccessfully, to postpone Connor's trial because of Liggett's admissions.
``We are not Liggett,'' said RJR spokeswoman Peggy Carter. ``You can't broadly sweep every company in an industry based on one's company's words or actions.''
Liggett last week agreed to label its cigarettes addictive, and publicly admitted cigarettes are targeted to teen-agers and do cause cancer. It also will turn over thousands of documents believed to incriminate its rivals, testify against its competitors and forfeit 25 percent of its pretax profits for the next 25 years.
The settlement ends Liggett's liability in 22 state lawsuits seeking to recover Medicaid money spent treating sick smokers. And, pending a judge's approval, it also would end all smokers' lawsuits against the company, now and in the future.
Nobody would get much money. Based on Liggett's 1995 income, $575,000 a year would be divided among the 22 state Medicaid funds and the suing Liggett smokers.
How many people that proves to be will determine how a court-appointed board apportions the money. In addition to 107 private lawsuits pending against Liggett, there are about 15 class-action suits seeking to represent thousands.
But most of those people - aside from Wilner's clients - have not agreed to this class settlement. Attorneys thus plan to challenge the deal July 11.
It's hard to ``justify a deal where you bind absent parties,'' explained Northeastern University tobacco attorney Richard Daynard, who predicted the private settlement provision wouldn't be approved.
Liggett wanted the class settlement because one big verdict could bankrupt it, said company spokesman Paul Caminiti.But attorneys general say their deal with Liggett - which stands regardless of the class settlement - was more about getting powerful evidence against the tobacco industry than about money. And Liggett's confession sets off a chain reaction:
Liggett rivals are fighting to keep sealed all settlement documents that mention them. In Texas, a hearing originally set for Thursday on whether to unseal the papers there was postponed late Wednesday. But in Mississippi, a trial judge released 11 documents to plaintiffs in a secondhand smoking lawsuit. The judge delayed implementation until Friday afternoon, however, to give tobacco companies a chance to appeal to the state Supreme Court.
The Justice Department will examine the Liggett documents as part of a federal grand jury probe of whether top tobacco executives lied to the government and committed fraud.
Tobacco foes began lobbying Congress on Wednesday to hold hearings with tobacco executives under oath to answer Liggett's admissions.
Recent settlement talks with other companies have stalled. Liggett got in writing that any other company would have to pay much more - billions - to settle.
Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., finalizing legislation to label every cigarette brand addictive, sent the Liggett confession to colleagues who are balking at providing $34million for a government crackdown on tobacco marketing to teens.
But a jury gets its first look at Liggett's admissions April 7, when Wilner uses them to bolster his case that Jean Connor was hooked on RJR cigarettes at 15 and that they led to her death.
``You would think having Liggett 'fess up would be important,'' contends Wilner, who last year won a $750,000 judgment against Brown & Williamson Tobacco Co.
At the time, he used internal documents that said what Liggett now admits publicly - smoking is addictive, dangerous and targeted to minors.
LENGTH: Medium: 93 linesby CNB